Stormcellar at the Royal Hotel Bond, Saturday 17th Dec 8pm!
It's December, it's raining, it's cold, we're playing! Yay!
Back in Bondi this Saturday night at the Royal Hotel, Bondi, from 8pm. Backpackers, Beaches and Bro's!
It's December, it's raining, it's cold, we're playing! Yay!
Back in Bondi this Saturday night at the Royal Hotel, Bondi, from 8pm. Backpackers, Beaches and Bro's!
You had to be there.
Mostly because I didn't get as many pics and vids as I wanted because the music was non stop.
We must start by confirming that Theo is The Machine - he drummed at high intensity for 3 and a bit hours straight, providing the rhythm for the band and our guests. Way to go Theo, that was amazing. His drumming during George Rigatos's version of Little Wing was peerless. What a night.
We were joined on Bass by the freshly travelled Mr Rix, who is also Georges band mate in the Midnight Ramblers, and what a three piece combo (with Theo) they made. Ah but I am getting ahead of myself again.
Ahem.
Right, so as predicted we had more Muso's than space (or time) and all of them warranted more time than we had. It was like a mini festival :-). It is appropriate to give each of them special thanks, which I shall now do:
Firstly, our profound thanks go to Fettler (Mike Kerin) for sitting in with us. Playing with someone of his calibre necessitates that we lift our game and last night was no exception. I highly recommend his new album 'Fiddle: The Devils Instrument'. Cheers Fettler and Tinka!
As we finished our first set, Ross Ward got up to do a set supported by Theo, Rixie and Mr Wizard and blasted out some terrific Blues, we wanted him to go longer but he claimed he had to get up early (likely story Ross!). It turns out that Ross and Theo are old playing buddies, so it was a musical reunion. Great work Ross, thanks for coming down and bringing your lovely partner.
For those of you who couldn't make it, here's some of what ya missed.
Ok, 1 set from us, 1 set from Ross, time to take a brea....nope, its time for George to get up!
George is a heck of a guitarist, here's a few snippets from a version of Little Wing
And of course, Mr Wizard was into it as well (hey its his Birthday Bash and who's gonna tell him no?)
So after three blistering sets, its time to pause, take a moment and...no..whats that? The Bald Rock closes by midnight? We have to go straight on with...oh...
Yikes. Poor Theo. We had to combine our second and third sets, drop a bunch of songs and cram as much as in as we could. We tried out another new song last night, Country Radio, which has been hovering in the wings for the last few weeks. It got a good reception but I think it still needs some cooking, however even on its first appearance, it looks like another strong contender for the next album.
During the set I was handed a note saying 'play Classical Gas, don't be scared, we're at the Bald Rock' LOL...I've been handed notes with requests before, but that's a new one :-)
We send our thanks to all of our guest muso's, and a special thanks to all the folks that came down, including (but not limited to, cos it was a busy night), Josh, Sue B, Sue K, Claudette H, Steve, Ingrid, Joan (thanks for getting Elsa to boogie) , Walter, Terry, Dave T, CB, Ken and omg that's where my brain shuts down. It was a truly busy night :-). Thank you all.
Walter (I think) made a comment that he'd 'seen the band before, and it was nice to see all the guests and the different arrangements with the Fiddle player' :-) No worries Walter, we like it too! That's why we do it :-)
That was one of those evenings that remind you why its worth going out to catch some live music, with a great crowd, a whole range of styles, non stop music and a lot of dancing.
We're back on deck in Bondi this coming weekend, back to being a 5 piece (awwww.....) but we're likely to continue mixing it up like this, so stay tuned, there are some nights in particular that you wont want to miss.
MJEB
Here's a great videoclip sent to me by GC. In an alternate universe, James Brown was Japanese!
Cheers GC!
Howdy Folks.
We did a dash to the central coast and back on Friday night for a gig at the Wyong RSL and its now official, we are no longer a 'Station Wagon' Band.
What the heck happened?
Oh well, we headed for the Central Coast late Friday afternoon, and traffic conditions were sketchy:
No that's not a parking lot, that's the Pacific Highway. Still, after we cleared town and made the freeway it was back to open road and another scenic trip out of town. Ah, relaxing.
We made our way to Wyong and the very swankily titled 'Club Wyong' (Wyong RSL) for our first gig there.
At the Stevie Nivcks gig last week one of her support acts, a certain Irish Performer, made some mention of playing at RSL's and he didnt sound too thrilled about it. something about 'Meat Trays' and Raffles and the constant sound of Pokie Machines. He would have felt right at home at Wyong...
But how can you knock a Raffle for a Meat Tray? Look at what you get!
And I am sure that particular performer would have been as happy as Vertical, our honorary Roadie, when his number came up and he won a Breakfast Tray!
Here's Theo with Dave as Dave contemplates a big breakfast tray! Funny, Theo is smiling more than Dave
See? Playing at RSL's is fun! And Meat Filled!!
We were very glad to see some of our central coast regulars, cheers to Sandi (love the new ink), Jimmy, Les and Judi, and thanks to Grant for looking after us so well.
We had another solid night of playing and received Sandi's tick of approval for the new songs, so all was well.
After a full three sets, we packed up, got on the road and headed for home just after midnight, expecting a smooth run into...ARGH!!
Roadworks!!! Ye Gods.
We're playing closer to home this weekend with Mr Wizards Birthday Bash at the Bald Rock. No meat trays, but hopefully no traffic! Hope to see you there!
UPDATED RSVP LIST!!!
WOOT! We're going to have more muso's than Space as we have now received RSVP's from:
Ross Ward (ward's Express)
Mike Kerin (Slim Dusty Band)
George Rigatos (Midnight Ramblers)
Dave Tice (say no more)
YE gods! Where will we fit them? What will they play? Where did I leave my car keys???
These questions and more tomorrow night at:
UPDATE JAN 2012 - I cancelled my order for Custom In Ear Monitors from the Melbourne Based supplier listed in Part 1 of this review and have removed their company name from the blog because I am petty and snippy, so there.
Funny thing happened to me at the Dave Stewart/Stevie Nicks concert I was at last night - Dave Stewart's In Ear Monitor and wireless guitar transmitter went haywire and he had to complain to the audience that he couldn't hear...watching the poor old Soundo running back and forth from side of stage to Dave to try and fix it and then give up and run a cable should be a lesson that Technology Has Its Perils!
With that warning in mind, it's time to write up my initial results on my own investigations of In Ear Monitoring. For those who didn't read the first part, take a moment and read it here before continuing.
Ok, up to speed? Right, so to briefly recap (for people who don't click on links), I picked up an entry level PSM 200 In Ear Monitor kit, including a transmitter, belt receiver and default Shure 115 IEM earpieces and tried them out at 3 gigs on the weekend
Ok, whats the result?
I fricking loved them.
Ok, time for Pro's and Cons of the particular setup I used which was:
Vocal Mike and Harmonica Mike to PSM200 Transmitter, direct pass through to PA, monitoring Vox/Harp mike directly from the front inputs on the PSM200 transmitter (not a desk mix), no Desk mix return (I didnt bother with a return signal from PA mix), default Shure 115 earpieces (came with the kit).
BTW - for the record, any pricing references here are based on Australian dollar figures as at 30 Nov 2011, with the $AUD at roughly parity with the US Dollar (AUD $1 = US97c), for overseas reader reference
PRO's
*Fast to deploy. Took minutes to setup
* Easy - the instruction manual is not long and with good reason, it was quick.
* Could hear my vocals and harp better than ever before, which gave me greater confidence and also showed where I was nervous in singing, which were obviously notes that I couldn't hear as well (from the upper and lower ends of my vocal range).
* With greater confidence I could hit the notes with certainty. It means I am going to adjust my singing.
*Put less air through the harp, which meant not jamming the reeds from inadvertent overblow/draw, will let you know if that means less maintenance after a while.
* Some degree of sound isolation with the Shure 115s, but not as much as I'd like, looks like the custom fit earpieces are the way to go.
Con's
* Scares PA operators who are not used to them. Thankfully, the PSM200's are a direct pass through, so I can just give the operator two plugs and say dude, these re just the straight forward normal mike inputs.
* Sound isolation wasn't as good as I wanted, as above, when I get the custom earpieces I'll test and post the results.
*Reduction in situational awareness of the bands live sound - people warned me about this, 'you wont be able to hear the rest of the band, wont feel like you're part of it' etc etc and I get it, but given that I've been wearing attenuating earpieces for 4 years anyway, it wasn't a problem, in fact it was better.
However, if you don't usually wear Musicians Earplugs, it might weird you out for a bit, so I acknowledge that this is a fair point, just wasn't a problem for me.
Also, I could still hear the band because my open Vocal Mike was picking them up anyway.
Sidenote: Shure offers a Lapel Mike add-on so you can feed sound from around you into the mixer (or transmitter), I hear that other bands run ambient mikes and feed it into the monitor/mix to compensate for the sound isolation.
* Big reduction in Bass - I couldn't hear the Bass player as well as I normally do, even when I'm wearing my normal sound dampening (attenuating) earplugs.
This might be why The Phantom (Bass player) recommended the 3 driver earpieces, they give you much better bass reproduction. but yikes $$ out of my budget range.
* The Shure 115 earpieces don't have a loop that goes over your ear, so you need a clip to keep it on your shirt, or the damn things get pulled out from your ears when you move, which is rather disconcerting.
* $$$$ - I was lucky and got the kit + custom earpieces for under $1200, - (UPDATE JAN 2012 - I am looking for another, alternate supplier and will update it when I get the new one's in)
but that's still a bunch of cash and I did not get top of the range stuff. I get the feeling that to pickup a 3 driver earpiece and the latest and greatest transmitter/receiver, I'd be spending somewhere between $3-$5K, as at today's prices, and although it might be worth it, you'll only do it if you're mad, keen, or have a definite need of them.
* Fitting a whole band out with these is going to be pricey
* if you're fitting a whole band out with them and want separation, you will need a desk that issues multiple feeds (1 aux send per instrument), although in the case of the PMS200 it had 2 inputs, so one could be Desk and the other Instrument, but it starts to get more complex if you're singing as well, etc etc omg..I'm overthinking this.
Ok, lets just say the solution I tested worked well for 1 dude, vox and harp, still hearing the ambient sound of the band because they are close to me, but its gonna get more complex and expensive when you start adding multiple people into the monitoring equation. - I should note that if you find yourself playing a bigger stage, with instrument amplifiers miked into the PA, you will probably have a full sound crew and Gold Plated Roadies, just like Dave Stewart, LOL! Beware!
Summary:
I feel like I got a good value option here that fit my objectives and so far, has worked well. I don't feel like I've overspent, or that I have been chasing technology just because I Geek Out occasionally.
Conceptually they work well, and given my stated objectives, seem like a practical solution to keeping my hearing, hearing what I'm singing and playing, and reducing my harmonica reed busting abilities (hey those little suckers add up!)
As a buyer, I'm still careful on any tech spend - too little and you buy stuff that falls apart or is cheap because its crap, too much and you're paying Audiophile Sucker prices (solid gold leads with Yttrium Connectors and Flux Free Capacitors for your ipod! I can hear into the future!!).
My results and comments must be considered within the context of the gear I picked, my stated reasons and objectives, budget and date. If you're considering this sort of stuff yourself, look at the process as well as the results - Decide what you want, why, use that to set your measurable objectives, research, price, ask, get opinions from Them What Know Better, Google Your Ass Off, hmm and haw about the cost and then go for it.
For my part, I'll post up another report after I get the custom earplugs from --- -------- --------- (UPDATE JAN 2012 - Name removed after order cancelled, I'll repost when I get a new supplier)
- Note - no financial benefit has been received by the author of this article for his opinions - yet.... but I am given to understand he can be bought. Seriously, I know a guy, gimme a call, we can discuss it over lunch. Your treat.
MJEB